Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 45: Trill Technique

  • Play a trill that starts slow, accelerates, and ends with a turn.
  • Apply variable-speed trills convincingly at multiple cadences in a single piece.

A good trill has a shape. A bad trill is a constant.

A good Baroque trill starts slower than its final speed, accelerates through its course, and ends with a turn that prepares the next note. The trill has a shape, the same way a phrase has a shape.

Accelerating trill

Start with deliberate alternation, then accelerate. The transition should be smooth, not stepped.

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Trill termination — the turn

A trill that ends on its main note sounds incomplete. The Baroque convention is a turn (the note below, then back) before resolving.

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Variable speed across a piece

Cadences in one piece should not all have identical trills. Make the first slower and shorter, the final longer and faster.

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Now play these

Telemann: Six Sonatas, TWV 40:101
Shaped trills at every cadence.
Handel: Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 (Andante)
Trills decorative as well as cadential.
Telemann: Sonata in C major, TWV 41:C5 (complete)
Multiple cadences across four movements.

When the trills in a piece all sound different from each other, and each fits the moment, move on to Lesson 46.